Cleaner for compaction machines



April 16, 1963 Filed Sept. 16, 1958 FIG. I

5 Sheets-Sheet 1 CHARLES L. ELLIS BRUCE V. CHRISTENSEN M4 Wok ATTY Aprll 16, 1963 P. F. M ADAMS ETAL 3,085,484

CLEANER FOR COMPACTION MACHINES Filed Sept. 16, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS PAUL F. M ADAMS CHARLES L. ELLIS BRUCE V. CHRISTENSEN Wax/we April 16, 1963 P. F. Mc s T 3,085,484

CLEANER FOR COMPACTION MACHINES Filed Sept. 16, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 4A

INVENTORS. PAUL F. MCADAMS CHARLES L. ELLIS 6 (=9 (a) sauce v. CHRISTENSEN BY Mo 0 0 WW ATTY.

April 16, .1963 P. F. M' ADAMS ETAL 3,085,484

CLEANER FOR CQMPACTION MACHINES Fsil e'd Sept. 16, 1958 *5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 9

INVENTORS PAUL F. MCADAMS CHARLES L. ELLIS BRUCE V. CHRISTENSEN 'ATTY April 16, 1963 P. F. MOADAMS ETAL 3,

CLEANER FOR COMPACTION MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 16, 1958 FIG. l3

INVENTORS PAUL F. M ADAMS CHARLES L. ELLIS BRUCE V. CHRISTENSEN ATTY p1,". IIIIIIIIIIIIIII United States Patent 3,085 484 CLEANER FOR COMP ACTION MACHINES Paul F. McAdams and Charles 1.. Ellis, St. Joseph, and

Bruce V. Christensen, Berrien Springs, Mich, assignors to Clark Equipment Company, a corporation of Michigan Filed Sept. 16, 1958, Ser. No. 761,330 3 Claims. (Cl. 94-50) This invention relates to cleaners for compaction machines such as those which are used for compacting soil and other materials in connection with road building and similar projects.

Various types of compaction machines are known, such as the pad type, the shecps foot type, the solid roll type, the pneumatic tire type and others. Practically all compaction machines have problems of keeping the rolls or wheels clean, the magnitude of such problems depending on the type of roll employed and the type of soil encountered, that is, Whether it is clay, sand, gravel, silt, common earth, rocky or sandy mixtures or other type.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved cleaner and compaction wheel combination for compaction machines which is rugged and reliable but yet is serviceable for all types of soils and other materials'which may be compacted by such machines.

Another object is the provision of a cleaner and compaction wheel combination which will not damage the compaction machine or be damaged itself under abnormal operating conditions.

A more specific object is to provide teeth for pad type compaction wheels which are efficient in their cleaning action but, at the same time, cause minimum drag on the wheels during operation.

Still another object is the provision of such teeth which retain their eflicient shape even under conditions of wear.

A feature of our invention in one aspect thereof is that the cleaner structure in part may be mounted on and carried by the same structure which carries a bulldozer blade or other earthworking implement.

In carrying out our invention in one preferred embodiment we provide a self-propelled vehicle having four pad type compaction wheels and a bulldozer blade at one end. Each wheel is provided with individual cleaner members or teeth both in front and behind it and these individual members extend through annular gaps between the rows of pads on the wheels. Some of such individual cleaner members are mounted on and carried by the structure which carries the bulldozer blade. l i

For a clearer and more complete understanding of our invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of a compaction machine embodying our invention in a preferred form thereof;

. FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a por-- tion of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of another portion of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a side view of an individual cleaner member;

FIGURE 4A is a fragmentary sectional view along the line 4A-4A of a portion of the cleaner member of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 5 is an end view of the cleaner member of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a side elevation of another cleaner member;

FIGURE 7 is an elevational view of a group of cleaner of which is visible.

335,484 Patented Apr. 16, 1963 "ice members of the construction shown in FIGURE 6, and the mounting therefor;

FIGURE 8 is a top View of the structure of FIG- URE 7;

FIGURE 9 is an end elevation of the mounting of a portion of the cleaner structure for one of the rear wheels of the compaction machine;

FIGURE 10 is a partial sectional view through one of the front wheels and a portion of the cleaner structure along the line Ill-10 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 11 is a partial sectional view through one of the rear wheels and a portion of the cleaner structure along the line l1-11 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 12 is a partial side view showing a modified wheel structure; and

FIGURE 13 is a partial sectional view of the wheel structure of FIGURE 12 and a portion of the cleaner structure.

The drawing shows a pad type compaction machine which is of the same general construction as that disclosed in copending application Serial No. 726,884 of Bruce V. Christensen, filed April 7, 1958, to which reference is made for further details on this type compaction machine. FIGURE 1 of the drawing shows a rolling or compac tion machine 10 which is equipped also for use as a bulldozer. This machine comprises a body portion 11 housing a prime mover such as a diesel or other internal combustion engine, along with other components necessary for propelling the machine. It is equipped with a pair of front wheels 12, only one of which is visible in this view, and a pair of rear compaction wheels 14, only one The machine 10 includes a bulldozer blade 18 which is discussed in more detail hereinafter, and an operators station 20 and other components and features necessary for a machine of this type.

Each of the wheels of this particular machine comprises four spaced apart rows of annularly arranged curved pads forming an outer broken cylindrical surface; the enlarged fragmentary side views of FIGURES 2 and 3 and the sectional views of FIGURES 9 and 10 illustrate their construction. Each wheel also has two sets of cleaner members, with two individual cleaner members extending through the gap between each pair of rows of pads, and the details of these cleaner members are revealed in the figures just mentioned plus FIGURES 4 through 8 inelusive.

The bulldozer blade 18 is mounted on a U-shaped frame rnember which we have indicated generally by the numeral 22. This frame member comprises a pair of side push beam portions 24, only one of which is visible, and a transverse tube member 26 which forms the bight portion of the U. The rear ends of the push beams 24 are pivotally mounted at 28 on bracket members 30 which depend from the frame of the machine.

Bulldozer blade 18 is mounted to pivot at location 32 on the U-shaped frame 22, and is tiltable forwardly and rearwardly about pivot axis 32 by means of an hydraulic actuator 34 which is controlled from the operators station. The bulldozer blade 18 and frame structure 22 may be raised and lowered by a pair of hydraulic actuators 36, only a portion of one being visible in the drawing, which are connected between the body portion 11 of the machine and bight portion 26 of the U-shaped frame.

A plurality of individual cleaner members 38, one of which is illustrated in FIGURE 6, are mounted on member 26 by suitable means such as bracket means 40' to extend into the gaps between adjacent rows of pads 1ii3 on the front wheels 12. In the particular machine illus trated, there are three of these individual cleaner members for each front wheel. FIGURE 7 is a view, looking toward the wheel, of such a group of three cleaner members for one front wheel and a portion of the bracket structure 49 for such group. Three cleaner teeth are required for each front wheel inasmuch as each such wheel has four rows of pads, and FIGURE 8 illustrates in a top view the manner in which the cleaner members 38 cooperate with the front wheels .12 in cleaning between the pads 18?: thereof. Inasmuch as cleaner members 38 move up and down as structure 22 is raised and lowered to move blade 18, the individual cleaner members 38 are relatively narrow, being less in width throughout than the width of the gaps between adjacent rows of pads 103; and these cleaners do not have enlarged portions within the wheel as do the other individual cleaner members described hereinafter.

Each individual cleaner member 38 has an arched or inwardly curved portion 41 and a flared curved portion 42, to form a projecting portion 44 which peels away the soil and other materials and objects which tend to clog the gap between adjacent rows of pads during forward operation of the machine 10. During reverse operation a similar flared portion 46 cooperating with portion 41 to form a projection 48 performs a similar function for the opposite rotation of wheel 12. As seen in FIGURES 6, 7 and 8 each member 38 preferably has chamfered portions 50 along the top and bottom edges respectively to facilitate forcing the cleaner members through the accumulated material between rows of pads and for minimizing drag on the wheels during operation.

Another set of individual cleaner members or teeth 56 for front wheels 12 are located rearwardly of these wheels and these additional cleaners will be covered in detail after a description of the cleaners for rear wheels 14.

The individual cleaner members and the mounting structure therefor for the rear wheels 14 are illustrated in detail in FIGURES 4, 5, 9 and 11. The individual cleaner members are shown in FIGURES 4 and each comprises a shank portion 60 of less width than the gap between adjacent rows of pads. At the inner end of the cleaner member, which extends into an annular space immediately beneath the gap, each cleaner member 58 has two enlarged portions 63. The inner end also has an arched or inwardly curved surface 64, and flared portions 62 at the top and bottom of shank 60. A pair of trans* versely disposed wear or toe members 66 are located at the ends of the curved surface 64 in a manner such that they have one surface 67 conforming to and forming a part of the curved surface 64. While we have illustrated herein enlarged portions 63 which are formed by separate transverse members 66 that are secured to the body portion of the tooth member and made integral therewith by welding, thus making it possible readily to utilize metal for the toe portions which have better wear resisting qualities than the balance of the tooth member, it will be appreciated that the toe portions 66 may be formed integrally with and of the same material as the balance of the tooth structure, if desired.

The transverse members 66 project laterally on both sides of the shank portion 60 as illustrated in FIGURE 5, and these lateral projections which have been indicated by the numeral 68 form the two spaced apart enlarged portions 63 located at the inner end of the cleaner tooth and at opposite extremities of the arch 64, each of greater width than the shank portion. The curvature of arch 64 is preferably greater than the curvature of the annular space in which the arched portion 64 and enlarged portions 63 of the cleaner member operate; such configuration facilitates the action of the individual cleaner members in dislodging dirt, stones and other things which may be caught in the wheel and forcing them out through the annular or transverse spaces between the compactor wheel pads (it will be appreciated that in addition to the annular gaps between adjacent rows of pads, there are also transversely disposed gaps between individual pads in each annular row). Such configuration also presents a minimum of contact area with any packed material which builds up in the wheel beneath the cleaner inasmuch as only the tips 69 are in contact with such material. The cleaning action is also aided by the recesses 70 which are formed on each side of the cleaner tooth between the opposed projections 68 on the respective sides, and in addition these recesses 70 minimize drag caused by the rubbing of the teeth on any packed material within the wheel along the sides 'of the teeth.

Preferably each cleaner member is provided with a layer of wear resistant material on the curved surfaces of flared portions 62 of shank 60 and on end surfaces 71, side surfaces 68a and outer surfaces 73 of toe portions 66. Such a wear resisting layer may be formed conveniently by deposits from welding rods of known composition as indicated in FIGURE 4A. Other means of providing hard wear resistant surfaces are also known and may be employed if desired. Hardening or providing a wear resistant layer on some of the surfaces in this manner causes such surfaces to wear less than other portions of the cleaner tooth such as the surface of arch 64, for example, which means that even after a great deal of service the cleaner tooth will retain its initial basic configuration with an arched portion at the inner end and laterally projecting enlarged portions at either extremity of the arched portion.

FIGURES 9 and 11 illustrate the mounting of cleaners 58 for cleaning action on the rear wheels 14. FIGURE 9 is a view from the rear of the right wheel showing the structure upon which the individual cleaners are mounted while FIGURE 11 shows in a partially sectional view of the manner in which the individual cleaners extend between the rows of individual pads on the wheel. In FIGURE 9 the wheel has been omitted except for a fragment of it in section at the top in order to simplify this figure. The individual cleaner members 58 are mounted on a transverse frame member 72 by means of bolts 74 which extend through the frame 72 and mounting brackets 76 (see FIGURE 4) on the individual cleaner members, or by other equivalent means. The outer end of frame member 72 is connected to another frame portion 78 and this, in turn, is mounted at 80 on a fixture member 81 on the hub 83 of wheel 14, so that member 81 supports and rotates within portion 78. The inner end of bracket 72 is connected to inner frame portion 84 which is secured to the axle housing 86 for the rear wheels at locations 88. As illustrated, machine 10 is a four wheel drive machine and the rear wheels 14 are steering or dirigi'ble wheels. This, of course, makes the rear axle a steering drive axle. Oopending application Serial No. 630,499, filed December 26, 1956, now Patent 2,871,966, dated February 3, 1959, of Mel-Vin E. Dreitzler, illustrates a steering drive axle which is suitable for this service.

FIGURE 11 illustrates the manner in which the individual cleaners 58 extend through the gaps 106 between adjacent annular rows of pads 104 in a spoke type wheel such as illustrated in the previously mentioned copending application Serial No. 726,884. The Wheel shown in FIGURE 11 comprises a centrally located flat ring or annular member 90 provided with openings 92 for lug bolts for connecting the wheel to the hub of the compaction machine. Member 90 is the main structural member of the wheel and it has a pair of cylindrical rings 94 and 96 welded or otherwise secured to opposite sides thereof. A plurality of spoke portions 98 are secured to one side of member 90 and to ring 94, while an equal number of spoke portions 100 are secured tothe other side of member 90 and to ring 96, in alignment with the spoke members 98 respectively. Portions 98 and 100 are rigidly secured to member 90 and the rings by welding or other equivalent means, and each portion 98 combines with its aligned portion 100 to form a complete spoke member 98, 100.

Spokes 98, 108 carry four outer rings each indicated by the numeral 102 and around the outer periphery of each of these rings are secured a plurality of spaced, outwardly curved pads'indicated by the numerals 104. It will be observed that the shank portion 60 of each of the individual cleaner members extends through a gap 106 between two adjacent rows of pads 104, while the enlarged portions 63 of the individual cleaner members are located Within an annular space indicated by the numeral 108, bounded by rings 102 on each side, outwardly by pads 104, and inwardly by the outer edges of the spokes 98, 100. These outer edges 110 form a circle of predetermined radius, and the arch of portion 64 of the individual cleaners has a greater curvature than the circle formed by the outer edges 110 of the spokes, so that the center of the arch 64 is always spaced farther from the outer edge 110 than the enlarged portions 66.

As illustrated in FIGURE 1, the rear wheels 14 may conveniently be provided with fenders or mudguards 112. These fenders are mounted on the frame structure which supports the individual cleaner members.

Each rear wheel 14 is provided with two sets of cleaner members, as illustrated in FIGURE 1, one rearwardly of the wheel and one forwardly thereof. It will be appreciated that the details of the individual cleaners mounted forwardly of the Wheel are the same as those mounted rearwardly thereof except that they are reversed. We have indicated the rearwardly mounted cleaners generally by the numeral 114 and the forwardly mounted ones generally by the numeral 116 in FIGURE 1.

It will be understood that frame structure 72, 78, 84, the individual cleaner teeth 58 mounted thereon forwardly and rearwardly of the wheel, and the fender 112 all pivot with the respective Wheels 14 during steering operation thereof. It will be appreciated that the assembly just described is normally somewhat flexible and subject to having portions thereof deformed or deflected from their normal positions during particularly severe operating conditions such as when it is necessary to eject stones or the like from the compaction wheels. It is important that this assembly never be deformed or deflected in such a manner as to permit one of the individual pads 104 to catch on the shank portion 60 of one of the cleaner teeth because such occurrence might destroy the entire cleaner assembly. To obviate this it is desirable that some of the individual cleaner teeth be so proportioned and arranged that the sides thereof will rub on adjacent pad mounting rings 102 of the compaction wheel during any abnormal deflection and thereby prevent contact between pads 104 and shank portion 60- of the cleaner teeth. We have indicated by the numeral 105 in FIGURE 11 a tooth 58 which is so arranged as to provide this protective action for the remainder of the cleaner structure. It will be apparent that the sides 68a of the enlarged portion 63 of this cleaner tooth 105 will rub the adjacent rings 102 during abnormal conditions as described and prevent contact between any other parts of the wheel and the cleaner structure.

The rearwardly mounted set of cleaners for the front wheels is indicated generally by the numeral 118 in FIG- URE 1. The individual cleaners 56 of this set are the same as cleaner members 58 previously described hereinbefore for the rear wheels 14, except of somewhat different dimensions. Such individual cleaners 56 are mounted by means of a bracket structure 120 on a laterally disposed frame member 122 and tube 123 which extend across the machine between the two depending bracket members 30*.

FIGURE illustrates a portion of a front wheel and the associated individual cleaner teeth 56 in a similar manner to FIGURE 11 for the rear wheel. It will be observed that the spacing and dimensions of the pads and cleaners vary somewhat for the front wheel 12 as compared to the rear wheel 14. This is customary to provide optimum compacting action, and the reasons for it are explained in detail in application Serial No. 726,884.

In FIGURES l2 and 13 of the drawing we have illustrated the use of the present invention for wheels of modified design. Only a front Wheel is illustrated in these two figures but it will be understood that the same construction may be employed for the rear wheels. This wheel may be called the disk type. Instead of the spoke structure of FIGURES 10 and 11 this wheel employs two dished annular members 124 and 126 and an outer cylindrical or drum member 130. These three members preferably are welded together to form a watertight enclosure which may be filled with water if desired to increase the weight of the compaction machine. Mounting holes 92 are provided in this wheel the same as in the wheel of FIGURES 10 and 11. In this wheel, the outer surface of drum member 130 corresponds to the outer circumference of the spokes 98, 100 and this outer surface is indicated by the numeral to show that it corre-' sponds to the outer peripheral edges 110 of spokes 98, 100.

While we have indicated and described herein certain preferred embodiments of our invention it will be understood that our invention is not limited to such embodiments, and that modifications may be made by those skilled in the art. We intend to cover by the appended claims all such modifications which fall witihn the true spirit and scope of our invention.

We claim:

1. In a rolling machine, a compaction roll having a plurality of spaced rows of annularly arranged curved pads forming a broken cylindrical surface, said compaction roll including a central mounting structure, said pads being mounted on such structure in raised relation in a manner such as to provide an annular space immediately beneath the gap between each two adjacent rows of pads which is Wider than the said gap, said annular space having a predetermined radius of curvature, and a plurality of cleaner tooth members equal to the number of said annular spaces extending through the respective gaps, each such cleaner member having an arched surface thereon at the inner end thereof and of greater curvature than the said radius of curvature, and a pair of enlarged portions on each said cleaner member adjacent respectively the extremities of the said arched surface, said enlarged portions being of greater width than the respective gap in which each such cleaner member is located.

2. In a rolling machine, a compaction roll having a plurality of spaced apart rows of raised annularly arranged curved pads providing a gap between each adjacent pair of rows, a plurality of annular mounting rings equal in number to the number of rows of pads, the said pads being mounted respectively .on the said mounting rings and the said mounting rings and the pads thereon being located in a manner such as to provide an annular space immediately beneath the gap between each adjacent pair of pad rows which is wider than the gap, at least one cleaner member extending through each such gap having a shank portion thereof in the gap and an enlarged portion thereon which is Wider than the said shank portion located in the respective annular space, the width of the enlarged portion of at least one such cleaner member being such that the clearance on each side between it and the adjacent mounting rings is less than the clearance on each side respectively between the shank portion thereof and the adjacent curved pads whereby in the event of lateral deflection of the last-mentioned cleaner member the enlarged portion thereof will rub the mounting ring on one side and prevent the shank portion thereof from engaging the curved pads.

3. In a rolling machine, a compaction roll having a central mounting structure with a certain radius of curvature and at least two spaced apart row-s of raised annularly arranged pads, said pads being mounted on said mounting structure in a manner such as to provide for an annular space immediately beneath the gap formed between said two rows of pads which is wider than said gap, and a cleaner tooth member extending through said gap, said cleaner tooth member including a shank portion of approximately rectangular crosssection having a predetermined width and depth, an arched surface on the cleaner tooth member at the inner end of said shank portion, the said arched surface being symmetrical with respect to a longitudinal central plane normal to the Wider surface of the said shank portion and having a radius of curvature less than said certain radius of curvature, flared portions on the two narrower surfaces of the cleaner tooth member adjacent the said inner end, a pair of enlarged portions on the said cleaner tooth member at said inner end, said enlarged portions being respectively adjacent the extremes of the said arched surface and the respective flared portions, each said enlarged portion including a lateral projection on each side of the said cleaner tooth member,

the said cleaner tooth member having a pair of recesses on opposite sides thereof formed by the two projections on each side respectively.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Thompson Jan. 19, 1926 2,003,186 Glassner May 28, 1935 2,159,347 Austin May 23, 1939 2,579,839 LeTourneau Dec. 25, 1951 2,701,995 Forgy Feb. 15, 1955 2,895,390 Gardner July 21, 1959 

1. IN A ROLLING MACHINE, A COMPACTION ROLL HAVING A PLURALITY OF SPACED ROWS OF ANNULARLY ARRANGED CURVED PADS FORMING A BROKEN CYLINDRICAL SURFACE, SAID COMPACTION ROLL INCLUDING A CENTRAL MOUNTING STRUCTURE, SAID PADS BEING MOUNTED ON SUCH STRUCTURE IN RAISED RELATION IN A MANNER SUCH AS TO PROVIDE AN ANNULAR SPACE IMMEDIATELY BENEATH THE GAP BETWEEN EACH TWO ADJACENT ROWS OF PADS WHICH IS WIDER THAN THE SAID GAP, SAID ANNULAR SPACE HAVING A PREDETERMINED RADIUS OF CURVATURE, AND A PLURALITY OF CLEANER TOOTH MEMBERS EQUAL TO THE NUMBER OF SAID ANNULAR SPACES EXTENDING THROUGH THE RESPECTIVE 